Narrative Illustration Project

Key Words

• Narrative

• Illustration

• Illustrator

• Silhouette

• Paper Cuts

• Atmosphere

• Mood

• Light and Shadow

• Contrast

• Character

• Roughs and thumbnails

Geoff Grandfield

NARRATIVE ILLUSTRATION by John Vernon Lord

The main function of the narrative illustrator is to represent, interpret, and heighten the meaning of a selected passage of text (in a complementary way) by means of pictures, with the aim of contributing to the reader's appreciation of the narrative.

Ideas

• Ideas in illustration may be generated in several ways: • ideas are required to solve particular problems;• ideas are required in selecting and composing the elements of a picture; • ideas can come from inventing a new visual language or by an original use of materials. • Ideas may take on the form of the visual clarification of something that cannot be expressed in words or seen in the normal way. • Visual ideas may complement words. • Pictorial ideas may show what the world is like in the present, what it used to be like in the past, and what it could, should or might be like in the future.

The Text

• Which individual passages of text shall be selected to illustrate and how do the pictures relate to each other to attain a satisfactory sequence?

• What pictorial properties should we consider when we are illustrating in series?

• Chapter 1 Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka;• http://www.online-literature.com/franz-kafka/metamorphosis/1/

The Frozen Moment

• At what precise moment do we choose to stop the action when the events in the narrative take place?

• Catching the fleeting moment when an event has just happened, or is about to happen, and that will, in the next moment change.

Mood and Atmosphere

We need to consider reflecting the tone of a narrative by extracting the appropriate sense of mood and atmosphere from its content. Our intention might be to create a sense of drama or humour, suspense and surprise, or joie de vivre etc.Nature and action of the charactersThe nature and action of the characters who are participating in the narrative have to be considered as well as registering their physical appearance, (features of face) and their momentary gesture and expression - not just what they are doing. Maintaining the likeness of individual characters throughout a story might be something that has to be handled.

http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/metamorphosis/

Learning Objectives

• Understand what happens to the main character at the beginning of ‘The Metamorphosis’.

• Create a character design to help visualise what Gregor Samsa might look like.

Franz Kafka

• Franz Kafka, b. Prague, (then belonging to Austria), July 3, 1883, d. June 3, 1924,

• One of the most influential writers of the 20th C.

• Virtually unknown during his lifetime,

• The works of Kafka have since been recognized as symbolizing modern alienation in an unintelligible, hostile, or indifferent world.

The Metamorphosis

When Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a monstrous insect. He was lying on his hard shell-like back and by lifting his head a little he could see his curved brown belly, divided by stiff arching ribs, on top of which the bed-quilt was precariously poised and seemed about to slide off completely. His numerous legs, which were pathetically thin compared to the rest of his bulk, danced helplessly before his eyes.

“What has happened to me?” he thought. It was no dream.

(Full text: http://www.kafka.org/index.php?aid=164)

The Metamorphosis

• View the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfrBcjisVo

Where is Gregor?What has happened to him? Who comes knocking on the door?How do the people react when they see Gregor?

Character DesignCreate an annotated character design showing the main character.

Task

Fill up two pages in your sketchbook with a range of different designs for your main character in your fairy tale.

Paula Rego

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

John Stezaker

Lynn Hatzius

http://www.lynnhatzius.com/lynn.html

Lynn Hatzius

Composition Here are a few headings to think about:

• Tone and colour contrasts;

• Figure and ground possibilities - dark against light and light against dark;

• Contrasts of scale and proportional changes;

• Different perspectival views;

• Opposites - near and far;

• Simplicity against complexity;

• Passive and active;

• Vertical, horizontal and diagonal stresses;

• Curved and angular shapes;

• Using constants (ie the grid) as a means of orchestrating compositional elements;

Visual Reference

Visual reference has to be gathered as an aid to creating the illustration -

1. From direct observation;

2. From visual memory and drawing from the imagination;

3. Adapting information gleaned from other forms of pictorial material.

Draw one of the insects above in your sketchbook. Fill up a whole page.

Use cross hatching technique to add tone to your drawing.

http://www.entomology.umn.edu/museum/links/coursefiles/ENT 5051/Gallery/source/roger_blahnik.html

Scene Setting View the documentary on storyboarding:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3q4Y2Lqvq2o&feature=related

Create thumbnail sketches for one scene you wish to illustrate from your story:

Emphasise mood and expression as well as a sense of movement in the picture.

View Point

The choice of viewpoint (angle of vision or eye-level) has to be established for each picture.

Roughs and Thumbnails

http://monkeyandseal.blogspot.com/2009/11/process-seals-90-thumbnails.html

'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations inspired by "The Metamorphosis"'Eda Akaltunhttp://www.edosatwork.com23 June 2007

3 from a series of 7 screen-printed images inspired by Franz Kafka's infamous short story 'The Metamorphosis'. Illustrations were meant to capture the black humor and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story rather then its narrative.

'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations inspired by "The Metamorphosis"'Eda Akaltunhttp://www.edosatwork.com23 June 2007

3 from a series of 7 screen-printed images inspired by Franz Kafka's infamous short story 'The Metamorphosis'. Illustrations were meant to capture the black humor and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story rather then its narrative.

'An Ode to Kafka: Illustrations inspired by "The Metamorphosis"'Eda Akaltunhttp://www.edosatwork.com23 June 2007

3 from a series of 7 screen-printed images inspired by Franz Kafka's infamous short story 'The Metamorphosis'. Illustrations were meant to capture the black humor and the claustrophobic atmosphere of the story rather than its narrative.

Narrative Illustration Project

Draw 3 different openings.

The idea is to show the story from the viewpoint of an observer.

Think of ways of creating a sense of suspense in your images.

A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the whole is typically presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all.

Lotte Reigner

Kara Walker

Shadow Catchers at the V&A

Dark MaterialsPuppets from Gregor Samsa’s dream, adaptation of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, 2010.

http://puppeteersofpugetsound.wordpress.com/category/gallery/

Dark MaterialsPuppets from Gregor Samsa’s dream, in our adaptation of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, 2010.Photo by Wilder Nutting-Heath

Christian Boltanski

Student Work

Students responded to Shakespeare’s Hamlet, recreating a scene from the play.

The silhouettes are put on a background image and placed over a light box.